Kolkata’s Night Rider

His name is Satyajit Pande but cinematographer Setu likes his daak naam (pet name) Setu better and has adopted it as his filmi name. His family originally hails from Almora but settled later in Kolkata.

He was to the manner born to shoot Kahaani and his first meeting with director Sujoy Ghosh was like a marriage of true minds. “Sujoy didn’t have to give me any instructions. I had my brief from the word go. As Sujoy narrated the story, I was plotting the locations in my mind.”

Setu’s uncle Ranjan Palit is an acclaimed cinematographer and along with wife Vasudha Joshi is an award winning documentary filmmaker as well. Setu had grown up assisting his aunt and uncle while they were shooting their various documentaries in and around Kolkata and that training came in handy.

“There is a scene where Vidya opens the windows and the camera pans on one of the houses opposite. That’s my uncle’s house. Shooting in Kolkata is a family affair. It’s a small industry and everyone helped us in various ways.”

The window scene is homage to a similar scene from Satyajit Ray’s Charulata and Setu owns up. “Sujoy reveres Ray and so do I. The master brought alive the spirit of Kolkata through his films.”

Sujoy had told Setu to keep it real. That’s why most of the film is shot in real light. “It’s seldom that you get to shoot like this in Indian films. It was a team effort. The stylist, the make-up guys, the art department were all involved to give it a singular look.” The cinematographer praises Vidya (Balan) for going with the minimal make-up look. “She was a dream to shoot.”

The cinematographer’s greatest challenge was to shoot the crowd scenes in a convincing manner. “The actors used to step out of their cars and mingle with the crowd as I shot the scenes with a shoulder mounted camera. We would disappear before people started gawking.” He thanks editor Namrata Rao for picking up the best shots.

Kahaani isn’t Setu’s only claim to fame. He’d also shot Taare Zameen Par (2007). A large chunk of the film was reshot when Aamir Khan took over from Amole Gupte. Setu displays nonchalance when quizzed about it and says a cinematographer’s job is to lend finesse to a director’s vision. Taare … too gave him scope to shoot in natural light, which is somewhat of a passion for him.